Mold Flow Analysis Research Articles

Decomposition of protrusion features on thin-shell parts for mold flow analysis

Decomposition of protrusion features on thin-shell parts for mold flow analysis

Polypropylene Composite Material for Light Weight Fuel Tank Protection Shield

<div class="section abstract"><div class="htmlview paragraph">The fuel tank shield provides a protective boundary between the fuel tank and vehicle driveline in the event of a high-speed crash. Hence, it is important from the safety standpoint. The part must be carefully engineered to meet the challenging requirements in terms of stiffness, deflection, toughness, dimensional stability and thermal stability. In this paper, long glass fibre filled polypropylene material compound was selected and developed to meet the mentioned requirements for this part with significant mass reduction over other materials. The combination of material, optimized part and tool design led to weight savings and considerable cost reduction. This is a ready to mold material used in injection molding process.</div><div class="htmlview paragraph">This long glass fibre reinforced polypropylene compound has been explored for thin wall protection shield with wall thickness of 2.5 mm. This part has critical functional requirements such as driveline load versus deflection durability criteria, thermal stability, dimensional stability to overcome fouling and rattling with respect to interface parts, torque retention in mounting zones, gap and flush aspects. Structural durability of the design was validated by virtual engineering. Part design and material combinations with better tooling design iterations were analyzed by using mold flow analysis. Complete product performance was validated for predefined key test metrics such as structural durability, thermal aging, natural frequency, impact and torque retention. This part met the requirements. The combination of material, optimized part and tool design led to weight savings, balanced stiffness and toughness behavior, dimensional stability, and considerable cost reduction.</div></div>

Ultra Flow, High Stiffness Polypropylene Material for Light Weight Exterior Trim Panels

<div class="section abstract"><div class="htmlview paragraph">Light weighting is an effective strategy in increasing energy efficiency in the automotive industry. In this paper, mass reduction with cost benefit was targeted in an exterior trim panel. Polypropylene copolymer (PPCP) compound was developed for a large exterior trim panel (1400 X 700mm) having an integrated grill mesh. The part had challenging requirements in terms of slow speed impact, structural durability, dimensional stability, aesthetics, thermal ageing resistance, cold impact resistance, scratch resistance and weathering resistance. By having ultra-high flow behavior, optimum tensile strength, modulus, impact strength and thermal properties, the PPCP compound met the requirements for a thin wall exterior trim panel with a thickness of 2.6mm.</div><div class="htmlview paragraph">Structural durability of the design was validated by virtual engineering. Part design and material combinations with better tooling design iterations were analyzed by using mold flow analysis. Complete product performances were being validated for predefined key test metrics such as structural durability, thermal aging, cold impact, scratch resistance and weathering criteria. This part met the required specification. The combination of material, optimized part and tool design led to weight savings, good surface quality, dimensional stability under sun load, grill integration and considerable cost reduction.</div></div>

Optimal Design and Analysis of Thermo-plastic product Chair Hand rest

The paper deals with the Design and mould flow analysis of injection moulding tool for Chair hand rest component. The part was analyzed with the mould flow software and accordingly, the injection moulding tool was designed. After mould flow analysis, considering the parameters (Possible gating location, runner location, fills time, Flow orientation, weld lines, etc) the manufacturing of the tool was done. Before the production of the component, there is a requirement of the moulding tool and moulding machine. The design is a very critical part and specialized area. Hence the tool should match the specification of the moulding machine to be accurate for producing the product. Keywords- injection moulding tool, best gate location, fills time, weld lines, Air traps.

Integrating Taguchi Method and Gray Relational Analysis for Auto Locks by Using Multiobjective Design in Computer-Aided Engineering

In automobiles, lock parts are matched with inserts, and this is a crucial quality standard for the dimensional accuracy of the molding. This study employed moldflow analysis to explore the influence of various injection molding process parameters on the warpage deformation. Deformation of the plastic part is caused by the nonuniform product temperature distribution in the manufacturing process. Furthermore, improper parameter design leads to substantial warpage and deformation. The Taguchi robust design method and gray correlation analysis were used to optimize the process parameters. Multiobjective quality analysis was performed for achieving a uniform temperature distribution and reducing the warpage deformation to obtain the optimal injection molding process parameters. Subsequently, three water cooling system designs—original cooling, U-shaped cooling, and conformal cooling—were tested to modify the temperature distribution and reduce the warpage. Taguchi gray correlation analysis revealed that the main influencing parameter was the mold temperature followed by the holding pressure. Moreover, the results indicated that the conformal cooling system improved the average temperature distribution.

Advanced manufacturing technology and modeling optimization based on moldflow analysis ——Take the design process of “Snowflake Bracket” as an example

In the past product creative design process, the design mainly relied on the designer’s intuition and experience. After the plan is completed, it needs several revisions and adjustments before it can be officially put into production. After discovering the problem, it is necessary not only to re-adjust the process parameters, but also to modify the plastic products and molds. This design method reduces the development speed of new products. This research proposes an innovative design method that applies moldflow advanced manufacturing technology to the initial shape optimization of product design, which can help us to accurately grasp the initial product design link and ensure that the product meets the plan expectations and aesthetic needs. Shorten the overall product development process and have good application prospects.

Multi-objective optimisation of plastic injection moulding process using mould flow analysis and response surface methodology

Multi-objective optimisation of plastic injection moulding process using mould flow analysis and response surface methodology

Cycle time reduction in multi-cavity injection mould through mould flow analysis and runner modification

Cycle time reduction in multi-cavity injection mould through mould flow analysis and runner modification

Multi-objective optimisation of plastic injection moulding process using mould flow analysis and response surface methodology

Multi-objective optimisation of plastic injection moulding process using mould flow analysis and response surface methodology

Epoxy Molding Compound Filler Clogging Simulation During Integrated Circuit Encapsulation Process

As IC components become denser and smaller in a package, more problems emerge. In the mold filling process, because epoxy molding compound (EMC) contains approximately 80 wt.&#x0025; silica fillers, the fillers may clog at the gate of gap if the gap height between the component and the substrate is too small. This clogging will cause a popcorn effect due to the high resin content in the gap. In order to determine the EMC filling process in the mold cavity and the relation between the gap height and the filler size, we simulate the EMC filling process and the EMC filler concentration distribution in the mold cavity using mold flow analysis software and then use computational fluid dynamics-discrete element method (CFD-DEM) coupling method to simulate the EMC filler motion to determine the relationship between gap height and filler size and the factors that affect filler clogging. Based on the mold flow analysis results, the filler concentration was higher at the gate of gap than in other regions, and the filler concentration at the gate of gap for the 30-<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\mu \text{m}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> gap-height model was higher than that for the 50-<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\mu \text{m}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> gap-height model. Based on the DEM-CFD coupling results, particles with a single diameter larger than one-half of the gap height caused particle clogging the gate of gap, and particles with a mean particle size larger than one-third of the gap height caused particle clogging the gate of gap.

Optimization of Compression Molding Process Parameters for NFPC Manufacturing Using Taguchi Design of Experiment and Moldflow Analysis

This paper presents the application of Taguchi design of experiment and Autodesk Moldflow® simulation in finding the optimal processing parameters for the manufacturing of natural fiber–polymer composite products. The material used in the study is a composite of recycled thermoplastic reinforced with 10% wood fibers. For the study, four critical processing parameters, namely compression time, mold temperature, melt temperate, and pressure, were selected for optimization. Process analysis was carried out in Moldflow® utilizing a combination of process parameters based on an L9 orthogonal array. Later, the warpage output from Moldflow® simulation was converted into a signal-to-noise (S/N) ratio response, and the optimum values of each processing parameter were obtained using the smaller-the-better quality characteristic. The results show that the optimum values were 60 °C, 40 s, 210 °C, and 600 kN for the mold temperature, compression time, melt temperature, and pressure, respectively. Afterward, a confirmation test was performed to test the optimum parameters. Using analysis of variance (ANOVA), melt temperature was found to be the most significant processing parameter, followed by mold temperature, compression time, and pressure.

Hybrid mesh generation for the thin shell of thin-shell plastic parts for mold flow analysis

Hybrid mesh generation for the thin shell of thin-shell plastic parts for mold flow analysis

Effects of Injection Molding Process Parameters on the Chemical Foaming Behavior of Polypropylene and Polystyrene.

In the present study, semi-crystalline polypropylene (PP) and amorphous polystyrene (PS) were adopted as matrix materials. After the exothermic foaming agent azodicarbonamide was added, injection molding was implemented to create samples. The mold flow analysis program Moldex3D was then applied to verify the short-shot results. Three process parameters were adopted, namely injection speed, melt temperature, and mold temperature; three levels were set for each factor in the one-factor-at-a-time experimental design. The macroscopic effects of the factors on the weight, specific weight, and expansion ratios of the samples were investigated to determine foaming efficiency, and their microscopic effects on cell density and diameter were examined using a scanning electron microscope. The process parameters for the exothermic foaming agent were optimized accordingly. Finally, the expansion ratios of the two matrix materials in the optimal process parameter settings were compared. After the experimental database was created, the foaming module of the chemical blowing agents was established by Moldex3D Company. The results indicated that semi-crystalline materials foamed less due to their crystallinity. PP exhibits the highest expansion ratio at low injection speed, a high melt temperature, and a low mold temperature, whereas PS exhibits the highest expansion ratio at high injection speed, a moderate melt temperature, and a low mold temperature.

Mold Flow Analysis of Motor Core Gluing with Viscous Flow Channels and Dipping Module.

A motor core is formed by stacking iron sheets on top of each other. Traditionally, there are two stacking methods, riveting and welding, but these two methods will increase iron loss and reduce usage efficiency. The use of resin is the current developmental trend in the technology used to join iron sheets, which has advantages including lowering iron loss, smoothing magnetic circuits, and generating higher rigidity. The flow behavior of resin in gluing technology is very important because it affects the dipping of iron sheets and the stacking of iron sheets with resin. In this study, a set of analytical processes is proposed to predict the flow behavior of resin through the use of computer-aided engineering (CAE) tools. The research results are compared with the experimental results to verify the accuracy of the CAE tools in predicting resin flow. CAE tools can be used to predict results, modify modules for possible defects, and reduce the time and costs associated with experiments. The obtained simulation results showed that the filling trend was the same as that for the experimental results, where the error between the simulation results for the final dipping process and the target value was 0.6%. In addition, the position of air traps is also simulated in the dipping process.

A Practical Numerical Approach to Characterizing Non-Linear Shrinkage and Optimizing Dimensional Deviation of Injection-Molded Small Module Plastic Gears.

This paper was aimed at finding out the solution to the problem of insufficient dimensional accuracy caused by non-linear shrinkage deformation during injection molding of small module plastic gears. A practical numerical approach was proposed to characterize the non-linear shrinkage and optimize the dimensional deviation of the small module plastic gears. Specifically, Moldflow analysis was applied to visually simulate the shrinkage process of small module plastic gears during injection molding. A 3D shrinkage gear model was obtained and exported to compare with the designed gear model. After analyzing the non-linear shrinkage characteristics, the dimensional deviation of the addendum circle diameter and root circle diameter was investigated by orthogonal experiments. In the end, a high-speed cooling concept for the mold plate and the gear cavity was proposed to optimize the dimensional deviation. It was confirmed that the cooling rate is the most influential factor on the non-linear shrinkage of the injection-molded small module plastic gears. The dimensional deviation of the addendum circle diameter and the root circle diameter can be reduced by 22.79% and 22.99% with the proposed high-speed cooling concept, respectively.

The study on a new method of preparing PMMA forming composite bipolar plate

The recent oil resource shortage has prompted the development of the proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) system. PEMFC is a possible source of power that can be used in aircraft, household electricity, agriculture, fishing, motor vehicles, ships, submarines, bicycles, and other portable power systems in the future. This paper emphasizes the production of lightweight bipolar plates to solve several existing problems in the PEMFC system, including weight, cost, and integration. Conventional bipolar plates account for approximately 90% of the weight of battery packs. Therefore, an injection molded flow-field plate constructed from polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) is developed herein to reduce the weight of the PEMFC system. Computer-aided engineering (CAE) mold flow analysis is then used to simulate the experimental design based on the finished products. Experimental analysis is also performed on the adhesion results of the plates. The results indicate that the establishment of the injection mold using CAE simulation improves mold development and reduces cost. Mechanical coarsening on the surface of the PMMA results in improved adhesion (> 50 N) at temperatures higher than 80 °C. Thus, mechanical coarsening is suitable for the PEMFC system. The problem of conventional weight is solved by reducing the weight by 70%.

Cycle time reduction in multi cavity injection mould through mould flow analysis and runner modification

Cycle time reduction in multi cavity injection mould through mould flow analysis and runner modification

Numerical Analysis and Fabrication of Battery Holder for Two Wheelers

The high-performance plastics usage is increasing in the automobile field because of its advantages over other metals and alloys. Corrosion resistance, light weight, low cost, flexibility in design are the major advantages of plastics above the conventional metallic materials. In this paper a metal version component converted into plastic version in order to increase efficiency, reduce the overall cost of a two-wheeler and to improve the production rate of component. Different types of material such as PP + 15% TALC, PP + 30% GF, PP + 30% TALC, Nylon 6 + 15% GF, Nylon 66 UF, Nylon 6 UF, Nylon 66 + 30% GF, ASA LI941 and ASA LI913 tested for 10,000km road test, vibration test and fitment test. An injection moulding used to produce the component and ‘Mouldx3D’ software was used for mould flow analysis and other simulation. The different parts of injection moulding tool made up of C45, P20 and D2 materials. Among different materials, ASA LI913 was selected since it has better weather resistance than others and the impact strength matched to metal version component. Finally, it was found that the cost of the component made of Plastic considerably less than same component made of metal.

Gate Optimization Analysis of Injection Molding for Mobile Phone Panel Based on Moldflow and Drop Simulation

Aiming at the gate design problem of a mobile phone panel, the plastic forming analysis software Moldflow and drop simulation were used to optimize the gate design. Six different gate design schemes were compared and studied, and the weld lines positions and injection molding results under each gate scheme were analyzed.Through the simulation analysis of the falling process of the mobile phone panel by the display dynamics analysis software ANSYS Workbench LS-DYNA, five analysis schemes were set according to the falling angle, and the stress distribution at the weld lines positions of the mobile phone panel in each scheme was studied. The reasonable gate scheme was given by synthesizing the force condition, the mold flow analysis and the drop simulation results of the mobile phone panel in use. Based on the results of die flow analysis and drop simulation the optimal gate design scheme 2 is found, and the weld line position avoids the lower part of the elliptical hole, which is the weak part of the structure. The research results had certain reference significance for the optimization of injection process of plastic products.

Study on Mold Flow Analysis and Injection Product Verification by Analysis of Variance and Response Surface Method - Taking Toothbrush as an Example

With the advancement of technology, plastic products are inseparable in our environment, and the impact of the plastics industry on us is gradually increasing. Although Taiwan's plastics industry has been progressively added to mold flow analysis and automation, there are still some areas in the manufacturing process that can be optimized. In the process of slit-shaped materials, bending and deformation have a very large impact on the finished product, which is a major issue at the technical level. In this study, a toothbrush was taken as an example to find the best combination of injection molding parameters. The research process was studied from CAD mold design, CAE mold flow analysis, injection molding parameter analysis, mold opening, product injection and measurement, and the results were verified. Among them, the injection pressure, dwell time and holding pressure are used as the Taguchi factor, and the CAE mold flow analysis is performed by the direct cross table L16 (45) combination to find a small amount of warpage, and the Taguchi method and the reaction surface method are used to find out the best combination of parameters. After the final product was shot and the dimensions and simulation were compared with each other, the data showed that the amount of warpage of the finished product was 0.0892 mm, and the error with the analog value was 0.0212 mm, which confirmed that the injection molding parameters were reliable.